Sally's Bridal Shop
by eliselilyflower
Summary: Modern Day AU. Thalia and Luke are getting married. Annabeth may or may not like the black-haired guy who does her dress fittings, and Piper might be checking out the blond guy at the counter. But it's not like they'll ever see those boys again... right? Most likely to become a short chapter story. Rated T for language.


**I know absolutely nothing about weddings, so I'm sorry if some of this is inaccurate. I don't watch Say Yes to the Dress either, so I'm sorry if I somehow portrayed it inaccurately.**

 **Disclaimer: Rick Riordan owns everything Percy Jackson, and someone out there owns** _ **Say Yes to the Dress**_ **(I have no clue who, but it's not me). I only own the plot and Sally's Bridal Shop.**

…

Annabeth had never imagined weddings could be so stressful, especially when it wasn't even her wedding.

Her two best friends, Luke and Thalia, were getting married. Annabeth, as the maid of honor, had been to several dress fittings but had yet to try on or even see her dress. The wedding was in a few weeks, so Piper, one of the bridesmaids, decided to drag Annabeth along to the dress shop.

"Sally's Bridal Shop," Piper murmured, scanning the neighboring shop signs. "Ah! There it is."

Annabeth rubbed her eyes sleepily in response.

Piper shot her a look. "It's nice to know that you care."

Annabeth sighed. "I care—honestly! It's just that I've been writing wedding invitations and discussing flowers and seating arrangements when I was supposed to be sleeping, so I was hoping to catch up on sleep this morning."

"You're the maid of honor," Piper opened the door to the shop, "this your job."

Annabeth grumbled, allowing herself to be ushered inside.

Rays of sunlight showered the soft sea blue walls of the shop's spacious, quaint main room. Gentle piano music lilted from white speakers as crystal chandeliers swayed overhead. The cash register and the shelves behind it were painted a smooth white. Around the white dressing room doors sat white and ivory poufs.

In other words, the place looked expensive.

As Piper pulled Annabeth across the plush white carpet, Annabeth peeked into one of the unoccupied dressing rooms. She could see a large, gold-edged mirror adorning one of the ivory marble walls.

Piper spotted a redhead with paint-splattered jeans hanging up bridesmaid gowns at the white glass counter. "Hi, we're here to check on the maid of honor's dress for Thalia Grace's wedding."

The redhead looked up at them and smiled. "Of course! If you wait just one moment I'll be right back with the dress. I have to leave soon, but I'll bring my coworker to take a look at the dresses for you."

She left, reappearing moments later with a sleek grey dress and a key. Leading them to a white door, she unlocked it and hung the dress inside.

"Go," Piper nudged Annabeth into the dressing room and closed the door behind her.

Annabeth threw off her shoes, toes curling up at the touch of the ice-cold marble. She pulled off her sweater, glaring at the dress on the hanger labeled _Annabeth_. The strapless floor-length gown was slightly out of her comfort zone, but she appreciated the silky grey fabric (that incidentally matched her eyes).

She slid gingerly into the gown. Material gathered above one shoulder and around the waistline, piling to the floor in soft folds. The thin, fluid fabric soothingly brushed against her skin swished against the floor. It was definitely too long—someone would have to fix that.

Suddenly she heard a deep male voice outside the dressing room. Realizing it was probably the coworker the redhead had mentioned, she reluctantly opened the door and stepped out.

She found a gorgeous guy waiting for her.

He was about her age, close to twenty, and had tousled black hair and tanned skin. He was muscular, Annabeth noted with appreciation, and resembled a surfer. His mischievous smirk annoyed her to no end, but he had sparkling eyes the color of the sea.

Annabeth had a thing for beautiful eyes.

The guy's eyebrows rose and his jaw dropped slightly, taking in the sight of her in that dress. She could feel everything else fade away as he watched her like she was the most precious thing in the world.

"It's beautiful," Piper's voice cut through Annabeth's daydream.

Annabeth blinked and turned to Piper, whose knowing smirk was apparent on her face. "Don't you think it's a little long? I'm pretty sure dresses aren't supposed to pile up on the ground."

"You wouldn't know, you never wear dresses," Piper reminded her.

Annabeth shrugged.

"You're right, though," the guy cut in. "It is a little long, but how much we hem it depends on where the wedding is. If it's outdoors, then it probably shouldn't touch the ground. If it's indoors, we only need to hem it a little."

A blond guy passing by with an enormous frilly cupcake—sorry, wedding dress—stopped to snort at them. "When did you get so knowledgeable about fashion, Jackson?"

Annabeth's not-crush flipped him off.

Turning back around, he addressed Annabeth. "My name's Percy, by the way, Percy Jackson. That dick is my cousin Jason."

His gaze was piercing, and Annabeth felt herself blushing slightly. "I'm Annabeth, and this is Piper."

Piper abruptly turned back to them, trying to pretend she hadn't been staring at the blond boy's ass. Percy smirked at her.

"Why do you work at a dress shop if you're so terrible with dresses?" she asked bluntly.

"Hey—I'm not terrible with dresses!" he protested.

"Actually, you are," Annabeth informed him. "You seem like the kind of guy who gets wedding dress knowledge from watching _Say Yes to the Dress_."

He grinned. "Am I really that obvious?"

Annabeth hid a smile. "So why do you work here?"

He shrugged. "My mom is Sally—she owns the shop."

Annabeth wiggled her eyebrows. "Bit of a mama's boy, are we?"

Percy blushed. "Shut up."

Piper laughed. "Don't worry, Annabeth thinks mama's boys are cute."

Annabeth glared at Piper.

Percy pretended to flip his imaginary hair over his shoulder smugly. "I know, she obviously thinks I'm cute."

"So cute," Annabeth replied dryly.

That was a lie.

Percy cleared his throat awkwardly. "So, um, since I clearly don't know anything about dresses, do you want to just come back later and have someone else hem your dress or…?"

Annabeth shrugged nonchalantly. "Either way is fine." Another lie.

Piper, with her impeccable lie detector, spoke up for her. "Just do it now, in case we can't come back later."

Percy nodded and motioned to the dressing room. "Could you maybe go a little closer to the mirror? You know, just in case I need…" he trailed off awkwardly, not sure what he would need with a mirror.

Annabeth nodded anyway and shifted into the marble room as best she could without tripping on the dress. Percy went in after her, making sure to prop the door wide open.

He knelt down onto the floor and spread out the excess material that had folded onto the floor. Annabeth's breath caught in her throat. "How long do you want it to be?" he asked.

"Huh?" she asked stupidly.

"The—um, the dress," he stuttered.

Through the mirror she could see Piper suppressing a smile while pretending to flip through a magazine.

"Mmmm…" Annabeth bit her bottom lip, considering the question. Percy abruptly looked away and busied himself with the hem of her dress. "Probably long enough to hide my shoes."

Percy looked up at her with a quizzical frown.

"All her shoes are ugly as fuck," Piper explained. "And I would kill her if she ever wore any in public without covering them up."

"You know I would kick your ass before you ever got around to killing me."

Percy laughed and continued making marks on the dress. "Why don't you just buy a pair of not-so-fucking-ugly shoes for these occasions?"

"That's a waste of money."

"What else would you spend it on?"

"Not _shoes_ , that's for sure."

Percy laughed again. Annabeth's heart skipped. "Okay, I think I'm done…" he got up, frowning. "Is there anything else?"

Piper and Percy critically studied Annabeth in the mirror. She tried not to squirm.

"The waistline is a little loose," Piper pointed out.

Annabeth froze.

Percy's cheeks tinged red. "The waistline is fine."

Piper rolled her eyes. "I'm your customer and I say the waistline is loose. Go fix it."

Percy glanced warily at Annabeth before reluctantly walking up to her and grabbing a tape measure. He smoothed it around her slowly, gently pressing his fingers to her waist.

Annabeth's spine tingled.

He refused to look her in the eye as he worked, face flaming as he touched her waist to hold down the fabric. He was only slightly taller than her, and she could feel his warm breath on her neck.

He hesitated before slowly and gently wrapping one strong arm around her waist to pinch the material on the side and stick some pins through it.

Annabeth jumped.

 _This is stupid_ , she told herself, trying to calm down. _You've only known the guy for a couple minutes, Annabeth. Get a grip._

When he was done with the fabric, instead of removing his arm he let both hands rest gently on the side of her waist.

Annabeth swallowed.

He leaned forward so his lips brushed her ear.

Annabeth held her breath.

He whispered, "You're too skinny. You need to eat more."

Annabeth suppressed a surprised snort, the corners of her lips quirking up. Only a guy like him could ruin a romantic moment so completely. "Yes, sir."

"Good," he made a move as if to leave, only to come right back. "Annabeth?"

"Hmm?"

"You look beautiful."

Annabeth turned back, startled, but he had already walked away. Sighing, she turned back to the mirror.

"Come on, you sexually frustrated little thing," Piper walked up to her, patting her on the back. "Time to get changed."

"I am not sexually frustrated!" Annabeth insisted, frantically looking around to see if anyone had heard.

"Really?" Piper replied, idly flicking specks off her nails. "I could practically feel the sexual tension between you and Percy."

"We do not have sexual tension!"

Piper smirked. "Okay, sweetheart."

Annabeth turned to glare at her. "Don't pretend you weren't staring at that Jason kid's ass."

Piper shrugged nonchalantly, but she was blushing slightly.

Annabeth frowned. "You know, he kind of reminds me of Thalia."

"Who, Percy?"

"Jason."

Piper spared her an incredulous glance. "You're crazy."

Annabeth shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not. Now get out so I can change."

…

Once Annabeth had changed, she and Piper headed to the counter to return the dress. Both Percy and Jason were there, surrounded by a flock of flirting girls. Percy spotted them and shot them a helpless look, but Annabeth only laughed when one girl started touching his arms.

They had stopped in front of the counter when one of the girls asked Jason, "Do you have a girlfriend?"

Without even thinking, Piper marched up to him, grabbed him by the shirt collar, and planted a long, hard kiss on his lips. Jason let out a small yelp of surprise, but he let his hands settle around her waist as he kissed her back.

The crowd of girls glared at her, but Annabeth grinned and Percy let out a long whistle.

Pulling away from the kiss, Piper turned to the girls. "Who are you?"

The look she gave them was murderous enough to scare them off.

"We were just leaving," one of them muttered, and they scattered.

As soon as every girl was out of sight, Piper abruptly let go of Jason's shirt collar, purposely not looking at him. His cheeks were pink, and he awkwardly cleared his throat.

Percy suppressed a smile. "Jason, that's Piper and this is Annabeth."

Jason gave Annabeth a tight, awkward smile as he and Piper avoided each other's gaze. "It's nice to meet you. Did you need anything?"

"We just wanted to give this dress back," Annabeth explained, passing over the dress. "It should be under Thalia Grace's tab."

Jason froze, and Percy turned to look at her strangely.

"Um," Percy hesitated, "did you say Thalia Grace?"

Annabeth frowned. "Yeah, why? Do you know her?"

"Marrying Luke Castellan?"

Piper shot him an odd look. "How did you know that?"

Jason gulped, and Percy scratched the back of his neck. "She's… kind of my cousin and Jason's sister."

Annabeth and Piper stared at them incredulously.

"You're joking," Piper said finally, but she didn't sound convinced.

Jason managed to find his voice. "No, actually, I'm walking her down the aisle and Percy is Luke's best man."

Piper looked down nervously. "I'm a bridesmaid, and Annabeth's the maid of honor."

There was an awkward silence.

"Piper, I _told_ you Jason reminded me of Thalia."

…

 **I'm probably going to make this a short little chapter story, so please feel free to tell me if you think that's a good idea. The rating will definitely not need to be changed for the other chapters, and it'll only be T for language.**

 **Reviews would be AMAZING, even just a few words on how you felt about it. Also, if you guys have any PJO prompts you want to send me, that would be great. Thanks!**


End file.
